The founder of the Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel), Bishop David Oyedepo, has asked detractors to stop from challenging the church’s choices over pastor retirement.
Following news last week that his two vice presidents, Bishops David Abioye and Thomas Aremu, would be retiring after three and four decades in the ministry, the clergyman was criticized on social media.
Their retirement was found to be in accordance with the church’s operating principles, commonly referred to as The Mandate, which acts as the church’s constitution.
Oyedepo responded by emphasizing the value of concentrating on one’s own concerns during his sermon at Bishop Aremu’s farewell ceremony on Tuesday at Winners Chapel in Orita Bashorun.
Stressing that the ministry functions by divine direction, he disclosed that the church’s Administrative Policy of 1998 was reviewed in 2001 and The Mandate of 2012 was revised in 2024.
The retirement age was raised from 60 to 55 under the amended mandate.
Future church leaders will only be able to serve for one or two seven-year periods, subject to board of trustee permission, however the founder, Oyedepo, will always be able to serve.
However, the Bishop cautioned those who wanted to bring down the ministry that they were squandering their “lives.”
“I advise commentators to learn to be silent and mind their own business,” he remarked. Learning what works and figuring out what makes it work is wise. Here, everything functions properly.
He warned Bishop Aremu that it is dangerous to take a spiritual vacation and advised him to maintain God at the center of his life.
Bishop Oyedepo cited Genesis 49:26 in the Bible to support his claim that no one inherits a pastor or instructor.
“There’s no such thing as the best today or tomorrow; what matters is your pursuit of God,” he said, encouraging him to keep an optimistic outlook on life.
Oyedepo advised Aremu not to be sidetracked by unfounded criticism and asked him to stay in touch for the ongoing flow of grace.
Aremu said earlier in his speech that he had no plans to leave Winners Chapel to start his own church when he retired.
“God has not given me the ability to have a church, so I don’t have one and I can’t have one. He declared, “This is my church.”
After a prosperous career in his sector as an accountant, Aremu made the move to full-time preaching.
Among the seven bishops consecrated at the Garden of Faith in Kaduna in November 1999, he is notable for being the latest to still be alive.
The goodbye ceremony for Bishop Abioye is scheduled for Friday, October 18, 2024, in Durumi, Abuja.
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